Downpour
by Higuchimon
Summary: [one-shot, Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge, Season 7, Round 3, Atemu x Mana/Mana x Atemu, Vaseshipping] Atemu has never seen clouds before. Mana cannot let that stand. This is not going to end well at all.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh  
**Title:** Downpour  
**Romance:** Atemu x Mana  
**Word Count:** 2,557  
**Genre:** Friendship, Humor, Romance  
**Rated:** G  
**Notes:** This takes place about two years before Atemu becomes Pharaoh.  
**Summary:** Atemu has never seen clouds before. Mana cannot let that stand. This is not going to end well at all.

* * *

Great moans rose up from the temples of the royal city, as people thronged there to beg the forgiveness of the Gods. No one knew exactly why divine wrath had fallen upon the land, but there was no other explanation for what had happened earlier that day. The clear blue sky had been shrouded, with no warning whatsoever, by shadows darker than night itself. Noises, surely the chariots of the gods themselves, had echoed from above, deafening all.

As if that weren't enough, light had arced from the shadows above, some of it dropping down near the city into a farmer's wheat field. Fire raced through crop, leaving behind nothing but ash and the weeping of the farmer and his family.

To add insult to injury, water cascaded out of the shadows, drenching the entire city. Some of the houses in the poorer districts had even collapsed! Rain wasn't unknown in Egypt, but such events didn't happen in the royal city! The gods were angry or warring and must be placated at any cost.

The disaster ended, as all such disasters must, but no one wished to go home just yet. The fear that this might happen again choked everyone.

"What does this mean?" A baker asked of his neighbor. The neighbor, a basket weaver, could only shake his head in confusion.

"I do not know, my friend. We can only be grateful that the Pharaoh and the Priests are there to protect us."

The baker's attention turned towards the palace as he nodded. "We are lucky, indeed."

Within the palace walls, however, two weren't afraid of a repeat of the disaster. Atemu, prince of the land, and Mana, apprentice to Priest-Magician Mahaado, stood looking at one another in the royal gardens.

"Master Mahaado is going to be so mad at me," Mana murmured, her hands clenching and unclenching. She rubbed the back of her head a little and tried a smile. It didn't go over that well, but she tried anyway. "At least you saw what clouds looked like."

Atemu squeezed some water out of his hair and tried to push the spikes back up. They would be impossible to deal with until they dried, he knew from experience. Perhaps he should comply with his father's wishes and shave his hair. "I think I could have lived without knowing, if clouds do this."

He hoped that his father didn't find out that this was partially his fault. Of course, once Mahaado uncovered what had happened, his father _would_ know. It would be Mahaado's duty to inform him.

By the sundial, only a scant hour had passed since he had entered the gardens in search of a little peace and quiet. There were guards around there at all times, of course, but they wouldn't bother him while he was in there, unless he called for them. He did not intend to do so.

Atemu stretched out beneath a willow tree, looking up through the green-leaved branches to the blue skies above. Every day was the same in Egypt, where the weather was concerned: perfect skies, warm winds, and the blessed light of Ra embracing the land. Once in a _great_ while it grew somewhat cooler, just enough so that a small fire would keep one warm.

Now was not one of those times. Now the sun beat down with ferocity, baking everything in the land. Atemu retreated to the garden, knowing he would be alone there, and would have a chance to stay cool.

He closed his eyes, breathing in the familiar scent of poppies. There was an especially fine patch very near his favorite tree, and he often enjoyed a pleasant nap there. The dreams he had when he dozed there could only be messages from the gods, though he had yet to understand what they were trying to tell him.

"Prince!" Atemu's eyes flew open at the familiar voice, and he began to smile. The smile bounced out of him, however, as Mana's grip on the tree branch above him slipped, and she thudded down to land firmly on his stomach. She stared down at him as he gasped for breath, his fingers digging into the soil beneath him. "Oh. Hi. Are you all right?"

Atemu gasped as he tried to push himself up and her off him, with limited success. "I'm…fine." That wasn't quite a lie. Mana wasn't heavy, but she had landed firmly on him, and breathing wasn't that easy now.

Mana leaned forward and peered into his eyes. "Are you sure? You don't sound all right, prince."

Atemu considered telling her that he would be much better if she stopped being on top of him. Unfortunately, that required much more breath than he actually had just then. Instead, he kept on trying to sit up in the hopes that she would get the message.

Mana shifted backwards, that familiar thoughtful look in her eyes, the one that tended to make Mahaado issue strict orders that she wasn't to do whatever it was that happened to be crossing her mind. Then she jumped quickly to her feet and held out a hand. "Let me help you up, prince!"

Atemu wasn't going to argue about that. Once they were both standing, he brushed himself off and drew in several deep breaths of fragrant air. "What are you doing here, Mana? I thought this was your study time."

"It is," Mana declared with one of those far too cheerful grins of hers. "I'm supposed to be studying weather magic."

The corners of Atemu's mouth rose just the smallest bit. "What are you doing out here instead of inside studying it, then?" Not that Mana avoiding her studies was very surprising to anyone who had met her for more than a handful of moments.

"Because you can't study weather magic _inside_, no matter what Master Mahaado says!" Mana pouted at the thought, though the twinkle in her eyes gave away the truth.

Atemu tilted his head back and looked up at the sky above them. Just as he'd noted earlier, it was completely blue and completely empty of everything except a few passing birds. "What sort of weather are you supposed to be changing? Making it colder or hotter?"

Mana scrunched her face up. "No. He wants me to study clouds and how to make it rain."

Atemu glanced up at the sky again, then towards her. "How can you study what we don't even have?" He knew what clouds _were_, of course. They just didn't show up over the royal city very often, and certainly not in his lifetime.

"He didn't say." Her face lit up suddenly as an idea struck her. Atemu had seen that expression many times, and it usually presaged something incredibly fun. "Maybe I can make it rain!"

"Has it ever rained here before?" Atemu asked. He knew that it did in other parts of the country, which was part of what helped the sacred Nile to flood every year. He certainly couldn't remember it happening.

That got a shrug of Mana's shoulders. "I don't remember it. But I bet I can do it!" She snapped her fingers and in a gentle sparkle of pale blue light, a scroll appeared in her hands. "You've never seen clouds before, have you, prince?" She glanced back up at him, large eyes curious.

Atemu shook his head. "Mahaado drew some pictures for me once, but I've never seen a real one." The more he thought about it, the more interested he was in seeing a real cloud. Someday he wanted to go down to where the rains came from and see one in the sky, but until he got the chance, whatever Mana could conjure up would be more than sufficient.

The fact that most of his subject had also never seen clouds, and were even less likely to have _heard_ of them, didn't even cross his mind.

Mana unrolled the scroll and stared at it intently. Master Mahaado insisted that before she even _consider_ attempting to cast any sort of spell that she study it for days beforehand. She had read this one already, though, at least two or three times in the week since he'd first assigned it to her. That had to be more than enough.

"I think I've got it." It was simple, really. It wasn't going to be easy; weather magic was always easiest when you were just prodding what was naturally there instead of creating it out of nothing. But what good was magic if you couldn't bend a natural law here or there?

Atemu moved over so he could look over her shoulder. He had never been very good at the kind of magic that Mana and Mahaado did, though he was improving on being able to summon kas from the stone slabs. His father insisted that he learn that; one day he would have his father's Millennium Item, and would have to defend the land against invaders and miscreants. He wouldn't be able to do that if he didn't have a strong ba and skill with summoning.

Despite not being good at it, the magic that they showed interested him a great deal. So, he leaned over in an attempt to see if he could figure out this weather control spell. His eyes skimmed over the writing, but little of it made sense. He could _read_ it, that was easy enough, but understanding it was a trifle beyond him.

_That's lotus._ Atemu recognized the faint fragrance that arose from Mana's skin and hair. She must have freshly anointed herself with it that day. It certainly was a pleasing aroma. He gave up trying to understand the words and just breathed in deeply.

Mana hoped that her prince didn't notice the shiver that went through her as she realized how close he was to her. Certain thoughts that she suspected she wasn't supposed to think were beginning to tease in the corners of her mind. He was going to be the _Pharaoh_ one day. Such thoughts were unbecoming of her.

Unbecoming or not, they were still going through her mind as she rolled up the scroll and sent it back to her desk. At least she had mastered teleporting small objects, mostly. Once or twice, she'd messed that up, but not very often. "I think I'm ready."

Even though her thoughts could never be reality, she would at least be able to give her prince something he had never seen before. It would be the prettiest cloud she could imagine. Perhaps she could even throw some colors into it, to make it better looking. She turned just enough so she could see Atemu out of the corner of her eye and smiled her cheerful smile.

"Show me clouds, Mana!" Atemu declared. Whatever she was going to do, he knew that it would be impressive. The entire garden would probably get a small cloudbank over it! He wondered what the guard would think of this. Most of them were used to Mana's antics by now, but there were always a few new ones.

Mana closed her eyes and concentrated, muttering the words of the spell, forming the image in her mind. She was going to make a cloud for Atemu, the most beautiful cloud that she could imagine, all for him. Power built up all around her. Her skin tingled as if she had been petting one of the sacred cats. She could hardly breathe for how tight the pressure was on her chest and back. This was what happened every time she cast a spell; she was used to it, and yet…

She threw her arms out as the moment of release came, the pressure easing as she did, her eyes flying open. She'd done it! Master Mahaado was going to be so pleased with her! Now, where was the cloud? It had to be around there somewhere.

The young sorceress looked to the left and then to the right. There were no clouds in either direction. She looked down, just in case it had shown up as …what had master called it? Oh, right. Fog. But, no, there wasn't any fog there either.

"Mana." She turned to look at the prince, who was looking up at the sky. How had the cloud gotten up there? She'd wanted to keep it down in the garden, so it was something just for the two of them to enjoy. She tilted her own head back and her jaw dropped.

Above, the perfect blue sky was now blacker than ebony. A great noise shook the heavens, rolling from one side of heaven's vault to the other. Mana's eyes widened and she clutched without thought at Atemu's hand as light arced above them, brightening the shadows for a moment or two. "P…prince?"

"I don't know." Atemu could not take his eyes away from the spectacle overhead. Again, the heavens shook, and a heartbeat later, water fell from the sky, soaking everything in sight. Atemu coughed and spluttered, having received nearly a full pitcher's worth in the face, and tried to shake it out of his hair and eyes.

He noticed only after that, that Mana's hand was in his. He wasn't certain of what to do about it. It was very pleasant to feel her hand there, to say the least. "Do you think you can stop this?"

Mana scowled as she stared up at the black clouds overhead, and then summoned her spell scroll back to her. Atemu watched as she read it over once again before directing yet another look at the clouds. She was so determined to set everything right again. She bit her lip just a little, a crease having formed between her eyebrows, and she began to chant a spell yet again.

Moments later, the clouds had vanished and once again, all was back to normal. If one ignored the panicked footsteps running through the corridors, of course. Mana was used to that after she'd cast a spell, so paid it little mind. She glanced at Atemu, and all of her concern vanished like smoke. She started to open her mouth to say something when other words cut through the air.

"Mana!"

She snapped her head to the side, and saw Mahaado standing there, his robes completely soaked and fury burning through his eyes. "Oops! I'll see you later, prince!" She hurried out through the nearest door, nervous laughter echoing in her wake.

"The people are terrified! I will have to explain this to the Pharaoh!" Mahaado stopped just long enough in his ranting to bow his head to Atemu before he kept on after Mana. "I told you to stay in your room and practice, not to bring down the wrath of the Gods!"

Atemu watched them go, a light smile on his lips. He could still feel Mana's hand in his. _She and that cloud had a lot in common. Appearing out of nowhere, surprising everyone with what they can do, and then disappearing for who knows how long._

Maybe he'd mention it to Mana herself one day. After she had finished with whatever punishment Mahaado laid on her for this.

He started out of the garden, still smiling. He didn't think he'd ever forget today. Or the way Mana's hand felt in his.

**The End**


End file.
